


Archeology is easier with the force!

by MinaTheSkywalker



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Jedi Holocrons - Freeform, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Scheming, archeology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29499033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaTheSkywalker/pseuds/MinaTheSkywalker
Summary: You have a conniving Rogue Archeologist, the last of the jedi, ancient temples, swordsman droids and a jedi librarian's collection of antique jedi lore that would fetch a pretty price. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Chelli Lona Aphra & Luke Skywalker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Archeology is easier with the force!

Archeology is easier with the force!

Chelli Lona Aphra was having a perfectly good day. She had reached the abandoned temple with none of the usual complications, surprisingly found no booby traps in the place and even managed to find some functioning lightsabers and small statues that would fetch a pretty credit on the black market. Things were going smoothly for once.

Until she tried to retrieve the temptingly large kyber crystal resting on a pillar in this room.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that the dusty metal statue in the corner was actually a slice-happy swordsman droid. Or perhaps she would've known had she not fallen asleep during lectures so much during her days at Bar'leth. No use wondering though. "The past is in the past" was among her mottos for a reason.

Normally, she'd just make for the exit and scram, but that option was removed when a metal ring wrapped around the droid's knee unfastened and dashed to reattach around her right calf, linking her to the piece of junk by an energized rope that was impervious to vibroknives and blasterfire, as she found out the hard way. To make matters worse, both the stupid droid and the ring seemed to absorb her blasterfire. Stupid cortosis. That was the last time she left her ship without explosives.

Which is how she found herself jumping, ducking and dodging swings like an Ithorian frog in an effort to stay ahead of the mechanized beast. And to complete the state of hopelessness, the personal combat shield emitted by her vambrace was rapidly losing charge. Either mandalorian tech wasn't all it was cracked up to be, or she had simply been duped. If she managed to live through this, she was going to repay that sleezy weequay a visit, because she was willing to bet on the latter.

The "if" was starting to become significant though. It was at times like this that she wished she had brought a crew with her. Unfortunately, working with crews usually involved betrayals, often by her if she was being completely honest.

Her luck ran out when she stepped back and tripped on a small stone, her personal shield choosing that moment to fail. The droid raised its blade for the killing blow and Aphra closed her eyes in terror. She hadn't expected to go out that way. She sincerely had many regrets…..

snap-hiss

She opened her eyes to find someone blocking the droid's attack with an emerald-bladed lightsaber.

"Skywalker?" she whispered, as if she was in a dream and afraid to wake up. But the kid didn't seem to notice as he traded blows with the droid. The piece of junk was fast, but Skywalker was keeping up seamlessly and pushing him back. It was like he wasn't even trying. He flipped behind the droid and a flicker of recognition appeared on his face. He raised a hand and the droid went still.

Skywalker's shoulders relaxed and he looked at her with a quirked eyebrow. Whatever happened to that kid?

"Hey," she said with her best sheepish grin. "nice to see you, Luke. You're not still mad about the whole giving-you-to-a-vampire-queen thing, right?"

He smiled softly at that. "Maybe a little" he said with amusement as he stretched his arm, and she was shocked to hear the metal piece around her calf hit the ground. Nevertheless, she accepted the kid's hand as he helped her to her feet.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she dusted her clothes.

"I'm a jedi. This is a jedi temple" he noted. That was new. When did he learn sarcasm?

"I'm an archeologist. This is an ancient temple" she fired back.

He glanced at her duffle bag and it's contents. "I thought archeologists were supposed to preserve temples, not loot them."

She rolled her eyes at his holier-than-thou attitude. "Well, I can assure that the people who buy that stuff will do a good job in the preserving department."

He chuckled at that before his blue-and-silver astromech dashed into the room, dragging an empty duffle bag. The little bucket squealed and brought out its arc welder as soon as its photoreceptors landed on her.

She smirked. "No, my 'murderous terror astromech' isn't around. I parted ways with the murderbots a while back."

"You mean you unleashed those two on the galaxy?" Luke asked indignantly. She had to tread carefully. The truth should hopefully suffice.

"No. I had them melted down." she assured him "Although I…may have kept trip's matrix and BeeTee's central processor."

He scrutinized her for an uncomfortable moment, but nodded in the end. "What did you find at least?"

she shrugged. "Not much. Just some lightsabers and statues. I was trying to get that kyber crystal when that stupid guardian droid attacked me"

He glanced at the fallen machine "I think it was a sparring droid used to train padawans. The skill setting was way too low to stop intruders, and the switch was in the same place as my own swordsman droid: behind the neck. they made them like that to remind padawans of their limited vision and understanding. If it was a guardian, the switch wouldn't have been that clear."

"training? It tried to kill me!" Just how crazy were those jedi?

He simply shrugged, however. "My guess is it was either malfunctioning programming, or they depended on older padawans being able to switch it off with the force. The goal of the exercise was probably to reach that kyber crystal."

That…wasn't a bad theory. But she wasn't about to admit that and embarrass herself further, so she settled for just shrugging. "Maybe…"

"Hey, what are you doing?" she growled as her duffle bag was emptied. It's contents floating around. Although she was, deep down, impressed. The kid was no Darth Vader but he certainly came a long way since Ktath'atn.

She allowed herself to see him in a new light. His eyes had a hardness that wasn't there once. They were less bright, but no less intense. His muscles were more defined. His motions were graceful and his expression guarded.

Maybe he wasn't a kid anymore.

"Just making sure " he said with a tad much sweetness as he returned the items once he was done checking them. "Although, I'll probably need those lightsabers."

She scowled "Why? I found them first?"

"They're jedi weapons. I think that means they belong to me." He said with an infuriating smile.

She snorted "I'd like to see that hold in court."

"Because you're all about the legal process." he said wryly, a quirked eyebrow joining his smile.

"Come on, a girl has to eat. Can't we at least split them?" normally she'd just try and shoot Darth Sunshine here, but she had a feeling that wouldn't work now. "Plus, I saved your life at the citadel."

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't count." He noted "And I just saved yours, but I'll think about it anyway. In the meantime, do you happen to know what this is?" he said as he fished a small metal disc from his pocket.

She grabbed the device and frowned. "No holoprojector. Looks like a data storage unit. But I don't recognize the model and I can't tell the manufacturer."

Grabbing her datapad, she held the disk as the device scanned it. She frowned at the results. "Where did you get this?"

He frowned "first hall to the right downstairs. Why?"

That was even stranger "That thing doesn't belong here. I specialize in ancient technology and that's not ancient. Its metal composition indicates it can't resist rust for more than 50 years. And it's not in my databanks either."

"Can you read it?"

"Here, let me try." she said before doing some furious typing as her datapad interfaced with the device "Only some coordinates. They lead to a very specific point on Haruun Cal"

The kid gave a thoughtful look. She didn't know what to make of it. "What do you think this is?"

"A trap" he answered, as if it wasn't ominous at all.

"You're going anyway." she stated, for it wasn't a question. He simply nodded.

She sighed "I do hear the Haruun Cal mountains are archeology material."

He smirked. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think my safety is the reason behind it."

"Hey, I came back for you at the citadel."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe I'm hoping to find something to sell there. Is that so wrong? Come on, Quid pro quo?"

He scrutinized for a bit with that look that seemed to look into her very soul, then he smiled and nodded. "Where's your ship?"

She grinned. Hopefully, she'll figure out how to incapacitate a jedi by the time they reached Haruun Cal. Preferably in a non-lethal manner. Kid was too sweet.

* * *

Aphra hated hyperspace. Hated it. It was boring, dizzying and took too damn long. It didn't help that things had been too quiet since she dismantled the murder bots. Sure, they were sadistic killing machines, but they were fun to have around. Unfortunately, After triple-zero's fifth attempt at overriding her master protocol, the risks got too high for even her.

And now when she finally had someone to travel with, he had to be the most boring companion ever. Considering he'd been in the fresher for fifteen minutes, she was inclined to believe even jedi had weak stomachs sometimes.

The door to the cockpit slid open as the fluffy haired farm boy walked in "How long till Haruun Kal?" he asked as he took the co-pilot seat.

She glanced at the console "Ten minutes. You sure you know what you're doing?"

"I hope so." He said with a small shrug as he went back to his datapad. He'd spent most of the trip studying up on Haruun Kal and its mountains. The silent treatment was starting to get on her nerves.

"So, uh, I hear you were on the death star when he died." She said, trying to break the silence. And she knew she didn't need to specify who it was.

Something she couldn't quite place flashed across his face, but he hid it well. Another development. "Where did you hear that?" he asked calmly.

"Hey. It's me." She said with a cocky grin. "Word gets around. And sooner or later, it finds its way to this archeologist."

He simply gazed at her with a raised eyebrow, and the uncomfortable feeling returned. She sighed aggressively. "Okay, I happen to know someone who had a cousin that was there. Apparently, you caused a ruckus when you dropped by with Vader and your name got around the hanger bay. Said cousin was a technician there and happened to see you drag Vader's corpse into a shuttle before the whole thing blew up. Happy now?"

He smiled wearily. "That we don't have a security breach? Very."

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on it being a secret for long. Not with the way your forces have been spreading. You're gonna be famous, kid. Whether you like it or not."

He didn't answer. Just gazed at hyperspace with a somewhat troubled look. She hated seeing him like that. Where was the sweet and somewhat carefree farm boy? "So. Did you really kill him?"

He looked at her with the same jedi stoicism he tried to maintain. "No. It was an accident during our fight that destroyed his life support."

That….made sense. Jedi or not, she doubted the kid could take on Vader. Still, she couldn't believe he was gone. A year and a half later, It still felt strange. He had always seemed so...invincible. It was part of what drew her to him in the first place.

She should be happy. She really should. Now she could work without constantly looking over her shoulders. Well, she would still have to look over her shoulder, but the biggest threat was gone at least. Yet strangely enough, she found that she missed tall, Darth and handsome.

Maybe she was as crazy as they said she was.

"Anyway, is there a chance you can get me his armor?" she asked cheerily "I know of some nutcases who'd pay a pretty credit for it. I'll even split the money now that you're no longer altruistic."

He gave a chuckle and shook his head. "Wouldn't do you much good. I burned that on Endor."

Well, that was a bit intense. She knew Vader had killed his dad, but this felt a bit too much for him. Even with all changes she wasn't sure she liked.

The Galaxy really didn't leave anyone their innocence.

Something on her console blinked, and she pulled back a lever to bring them into realspace. Lime green mixed with blue and brown on the surface of the sphere visible from the transparisteel viewport, and a whistle came over the comm system as an X-Wing appeared ahead to their right.

"Your droid really doesn't like me." she said as she fed the navcomputer the coordinates from the ancient disk. Luke gave a light chuckle "He's just overprotective, that's all."

She snorted as she dove for the planet. "An astromech protecting a jedi?"

"You'd be surprised" he said with great amusement as they reached the atmosphere. The ships crossed the toxic layer of the atmosphere and raced over the thick jungles and rocky plateaus towards "Grandfather's shoulder", one of the many mountains of Haruun Kal. Ten minutes later, they had landed in a clearing that lay between the mountain base and the jungle foliage, approximately ten kliks from the point on the disk.

"You getting any ominous whispers?" she asked as she unstrapped her crash webbing and swiveled in the pilot seat. She didn't feel like walking into a trap without precautions. Not if she could help it at least.

The kid closed his eyes and frowned for a minute before shaking his head. "Nothing" he said as he unstrapped his own crash webbing. "But keep your eyes open."

"Well that's reassuring." she muttered as she got up and followed him to the storage area. They grabbed a hovercart with a few crates on it, secured the Ark Angel II and told the astromech to stay with the ships before making their way along the mountain base to their left.

"So,uh, so you still see Sana often?" she asked as he walked to her right, pushing the hovercart in front of him. He simply shrugged "Not as often as I used to, although the alliance seems to be hiring every smuggler in the outer rim these days. Sana is probably one of the few who actually take things to our bases directly. I think I saw her last month."

"Oh." she didn't miss that he didn't tell her where. Clever. "Well, if you see her, tell her I said hello. And, um, tell her I'm sorry that….I haven't been around lately."

He flashed her a warm smile that made him feel like himself again. "I will when I see her."

Their path soon took them to a small Canyon in the mountain base that unfortunately wouldn't have fit their ships. They walked along the canyon walls until it widened into a small Lake with a waterfall pouring into it at its end. "It's behind the waterfall." she said after glancing at her datapad. Luke just nodded with barely restrained eagerness. Aphra followed him as he moved along the lake.

They snuck behind the waterfall and, sure enough, five meters behind it was a cave whose entrance was blocked by boulders. Although to her trained eye, it clearly wasn't a natural cave in. "And whaddya know." she said as she glanced at her datapad. "I think we found it. Still nothing?"

Luke shook his head again. "I'm not sensing any danger. Or lifeforms even."

Aphra nodded "We're gonna have to remove these rocks. Top to bottom if we don't wanna get squashed. Maybe we can-" her train of thoughts was interrupted when two boulders from the top of the pile floated in the air and were thrown through the waterfall behind them into the Lake.

She glanced at Luke's outstretched arm and realized the kid had made more progress with the jedi stuff than she originally thought. Four more boulders were thrown into the waterfall, then three more and before she knew it, the whole pile was at the bottom of the lake, leaving behind a rough doorway.

She forced her mouth shut, blinked, then nodded with a grin. "Impressive. You wouldn't be interested in a job, would you? Because you'd definitely make excavation easier."

He smirked "Thank you, but I'm afraid I have other obligations." he said with mock regret before entering the cave. She rolled her eyes and followed behind him.

The cave was musty and dank, but surprisingly well furnished and even had functioning glow panels they managed to turn on. It had flooring with a landing pad that could fit a starfighter, a coolant unit for food, a small kitchen, consoles and even a bed lying on a wide ledge that could be reached with a simple ladder. But the kid only had eyes for the two cabinets standing next to the entrance. One had a stack of holobooks, and the other several rows of holocrons.

"looks like you hit the jackpot, farmboy." she said with a grin. And what a jackpot it was. Luke did nothing but nod once more, a somewhat lost look on his face.

Something in the back of the room caught her attention and she tapped Luke's shoulder. "Look. Over there." she pointed at the simple pedestal lying opposite to the cabinets. One of the infamous glowing cubes was lying on its dusty surface. "I'm guessing that one has the goods."

"Probably." Skywalker conceded, and she could feel his anticipation as he raised his hand. The cube floated towards them before dividing into splinters, revealing an old woman sporting what was likely grey hair tied into a bun with large needles in it. She wore jedi robes beneath a heavy coat and spoke with a grandmotherly voice.

"This is jedi master Jocasta Nu. If you can see this message, then you are firmly in the light and I am likely one with the force. Perhaps my friend Gar led you here. Perhaps you are a jedi. Perhaps you are not. It doesn't matter. I only know that the force brought you here for a reason. Behind you lies one of the last remains of the jedi's knowledge. Everything I know about our history, our faith and our ways exists in these cabinets."

Aphra glanced back at the cabinets with new appreciation. "Should you choose to take on this mantle, you dedicate yourself to the jedi path and a dangerous life in an empire that does not care much for jedi. If you cannot walk this path, then I beg to give this to someone who would, or should the worst come, make sure the Empire never finds it."

She continued with a sad smile that moved even Aphra "I've watched the order and the Republic I gave my life to serve crumble before my eyes. I have lost many friends so suddenly…jedi I once guided to our knowledge within the great library. But not once did I lose my faith. The force finds a way. It always does. Our light cannot be extinguished because the force will always keep a candle to light the torch. Whomever is seeing this…..It is up to you now. Don't let our deaths have been in vain."

"Don't let this be the end of the jedi." she heard the kid murmur and she could swear a tear was in his eye. "You alright?" she asked after a moment, and found that she meant it.

"Better than I was in a long time." he said with the same sad smile the woman wore. He wasn't making this easier. "I'll….go get the cart so we can load everything up." he said with a new found enthusiasm before heading to the entrance, leaving her with her thoughts.

I've watched the order and Republic I gave my life to serve crumble before my eyes.

Well, you shouldn't have grown too attached to those Master Nu. It was why Aphra always looked out for number one. Your cause can't fail if you didn't have one. And you can't lose friends if you didn't have any.

That sounded a bit hollow this time.

"Alright, give me a hand with this" the kid said as he came back with the hovercart. They started packing the books and holocrons and soon enough had four large crates of neatly stacked jedi lore. Much like with the temple on Oddonis Prime, they made sure they hadn't missed anything before heading out.

They walked along the lake for a while, with the farm boy pushing the hovercart ahead and her trailing behind. "So," she started "it's quite a catch you have here. Would fetch good credits to the right people." she said as she glanced upwards at the mountainside to her right.

"You're not seriously suggesting I would sell those." he said as he threw her a sideways glance.

"Oh, no. Definitely not suggesting." she said with a devilish grin before pushing a button on her 'mandalorain' gauntlet. Two ovoid figures dropped from the mountainside. One of them rolled to a stop by her left and unfolded to reveal it's twin repeating blaster cannons. A translucent deflective shield shimmered around it as another one landed and unfolded behind Luke, who had turned to face her.

She had expected outrage, anger or even shock. Instead he was completely unfazed as he glanced at the canyon wall and raised an eyebrow quizzically. "I didn't know droidekas could run on that terrain."

"Oh, they're modified. Hence the missiles and why they could track us from the mountains." she said with confidence she somehow wasn't feeling despite having him completely outgunned. "How do you think I caught Vader's eye in the first place? Look, at first I was going to take the whole loot, but given our history and how much these trinkets mean to you, I think I'll leave you a crate. It's an offer you can't refuse if you ask me."

"Tempting." he said wryly "But I'll have to pass."

"Bluffing, Luke?" she asked cockily "Or relying on me not killing you? Because either way, I'm disappointed."

"So Am I." He said with the same look he last gave her at Ktath'atn. It was a look of great betrayal and disappointment. He fished something from his pocket and pressed a button. The shields on the rollers blinked before dying as the droids jerked. Electricity sputtered around them before they fell silent. Completely unresponsive.

"I told you not to underestimate Artoo, and I've been on enough smuggling ships to know a hidden compartment when I see one. You may want to keep your more dangerous equipment locked up next time you have a passenger." he said with a smirk.

Of course. The long "fresher break" came after his droid sent him a message on his datapad. The moving bucket likely caught the droideka's miniature reactors with the X-Wings sensors. "You swiped a couple of my EMPs, hotwired them to a signaler and planted them on the rollies, didn't you?" she said with a fond smile. She was impressed and more than a little proud. The kid had come far.

No. Not a kid. Definitely not a kid.

He nodded. "I hoped I wouldn't have to use them."

"You seem disappointed." she said with surprisingly genuine hurt. She was likely the reason he wasn't so trusting anymore and she wasn't proud of that.

"Only because you can be a lot more than what you are, Aphra." he said, not unkindly.

She didn't know whether she wanted to apologize or shoot his condescending butt.

"I wasn't going to kill you, you know." she said apologetically. He surprised her with an admonishing smile. "I know. You're not that bad."

Now why was that heartwarming?

An X-Wing roared into view and carefully descended to hover over the lake. The four crates floated carefully towards it, with two magnetically locking to its belly and each of the remaining ones to one of the lower S-foils.

Skywalker flashed her one last warm smile before throwing her a cred-stick. "Those are five thousand credits. Should be enough to compensate you."

"Are you kidding me? The droids alone are a fifteen." she whined, earning herself an amused grin.

"You'll fix them. I have faith in you, Doctor." he said before jumping gracefully into the X-Wing's cockpit. The way only a jedi could. The cockpit closed with a hiss, and the starfighter spun to dash away from her. Leaving behind a very stunned archeologist.

The farm boy was a jedi now. No doubt about that. For reasons she couldn't comprehend, she was very proud. Although she had to admit she was afraid he'd kill her for a moment. Sure, he seemed sweet, but he also burned Darth Vader's body….

Burned his body. Like in a jedi funeral pyre.

Vader couldn't have been a jedi. He loathed them. But didn't most hatreds start with love? If he was a jedi then who….

No. It couldn't be. But it made too much sense. The relentless hunt, the obsession….

She'd have to look into that. Very soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! This story is a part of my longer, ongoing work "The Art of War", but I felt it could work as a stand-alone and there aren't many Aphra stories out there. So, if you feel there's some context missing or loose ends, you're not imagining it. If you enjoyed - or didn't - please let me know what you think. Likes/Dislikes/ Thoughts...it will mean the world.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [To find the truth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29751282) by [Dragonkeeper14](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonkeeper14/pseuds/Dragonkeeper14)




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